Waxing member for floor polishing machines



Feb. 28, 1961 J. B. CORTEZ $32,772

WAXING MEMBER FOR FLOOR POLISHING MACHINES Filed Aug. 18, 1958 INVENTOR.

nited States Patent O 2,972,772 WAXING MEMBER FOR FLOOR POLISHING MACHINES Jos B. Cortz, Buenos Aires, Argentina, assignor to Fequilite S.R.L., Buenos Aires, Argentina, a company of Buenos Aires, Argentina Filed Aug. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 755,800 5 Claims. (Cl. 15-501) This invention relates to a waxing arrangement including a waxing member to be applied to a floor polishing machine of the type known and having usually three rotary brushes as well as to a combined rotary brush and waxing member to be used in said type of machines.

The lloor polishing machines s0 far known, usually consist of a Vertical electric motor mounted on a platform supporting three rotary disk like members driven by said motor. A handle allows to push the assembly over the door.

The disk like members are brushes when the machine is used for polishing the floor or support steel-shavings or the like for scraping the oor, as is already known in the art.

Up to now; to wax the floor, it was necessary to use liquid wax and spray it over the floor, and thereafter the polishing machine is used with a first s et of distributor brushes to evenly distribute said wax on the floor. The next step is to replace the first set of distributor brushes by a second set of polishing brushes which are used to polish the oor and eventually said second set of brushes is thereafter sheathed with disk-like felt members, so as to be able to carry out a nal shine Liquid waxes are, however, often hand applied and distributed because they contain inflammable solvents and a spark which may be produced in the electric motor can eventually produce a fire.

It has, therefore, been thought that if it would be possible to apply solid wax directly to the Hoor by means of the polishing machine that a considerable reduction in work would be achieved for the housewives.

Tests have been made to manufacture a wax block and to mount itwon a disk to be fit into the polishing machine and thus when the wax in contact with the floor starts to rotate, due to friction a certain amount of -heat is generated, which will fuse the wax on the floor; but it has also been noticed that the wax is deposited on the oor in unequal amounts, more particularly even though the machine is continuously moved forward in one direction, Ywax is deposited on the floor at intervals in form of somewhat circular stains, which is due to the fact that the surface of the wax body in contact with the floor transmits heat and melts a small layer of said body whichris j.

deposited on the oor as a circular stain and thereafter friction has to start to generate again sufficient heat to melt another layer, which is then deposited as a new spaced apart stain, and so on.

In addition it has been noticed that if the floor is not perfectly clean, that the surface of the wax block in contact with the floor soon gets dirty forming a layer of dirt on said surface which has a low heat transmission coefficient and therefore the melting ofthe wax blocks becomes completely irregular, and the melting rate is decreased.

Bearing in mindthe above, the present invention con- Patented Feb. 28, 1961 "ice l its housing, said bristles will clean the oor surface before entering in contact with the wax block, whereby the above referred to heat isolating dirt layer is substantially eliminated. It is important that the row of bristles and/or the stiffness of the bristles be such that the row is incapable of supporting the machine, as distinct from polishing brushes so far known, so that the bristles will splay out as the wax is consumed to assure that the wax block can be consumed up to its end.

However, this condition as to the stiffness of the bristles can be disposed of, if the wax block is mounted on a spring arrangement or' the like which urges the wax block towards the oor.

Likewise the housing may be replaced by a stationary distributor, such as for instance a felt ring arranged voutkside said block.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art, that the centrifugal force co-operates to evenly distribute the wax on the floor, though not sufficient to perform this object alone.

In order to facilitate the comprehension of the present invention, reference will now be made to several preferred embodiments by way of example and at that stage the method for manufacturing one of the preferred embodiments of waxing members will likewise be described in relationship to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective View of a waxing arrangement consisting of a disk like member, a circular row orbustles defining a brush and a waxing member applied to said disk, in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 illustrates part of the method for manufacturing the waxing member. A u

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of a modified embodiment, with regard to the embodiment shown in Fig. l.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a modied embodiment of the waxing member.

According to a first embodiment the waxing member 1 (see Figs. 2 and 3) consists usually of a metal base portion 2 having a U-shaped rim 3 into which a card-board cylinder 4 is fitted and thereafter the branches 3' and 3 Vof said U-shaped outer rim 3 are then pressed together to clamp said card-board cylinder 4, which projects out of said'metal base portion 2 in a substantial amount. A ring 5 usually likewise made of cardboard or the like is then housed into said cylinder 4, and placed adjacent the base portion 2. An inner cylinder 6 likewise of cardboard or the like is then placed within ring 5. It is obvious that during the manufacturing of the waxing member 1, the latter will be located in the position as shown in Fig. 3.

In the annular space which is defined by the outer cylinder 4, inner cylinder 6 and ring 5, warm liquiiied wax 7 is poured, which once cooled, becomes solid.

Obviously, the ring 5 could be replaced by annular inwardly projecting portion of the metal base portion 2.

The next and last step consists in mounting a knife'S on the top of the cylinders 4 and 6 and the waxing member 7 is then rotated in the direction indicated by arrow 9, whereby an even surface is obtained, such as best shown in Fig. 1 and identified by reference letter S. If desired, the knife may be rotated instead of the waxing member 1.

The central portion of the metal baseportion 2 'comprises a perforation 10. A disk member 11 of the type already known and used in ioor polishing machines, not shown, having usually a pairof pins 12 to removably t the disk 11 into the polishing machine, as is likewise known, is further provided in its central portion-with a perforation 13 through which passes the stem of a screw 14 which further passes through perforation 10; nut 1 5 enables to link the waxing member 1 onto disk member 11.

It will be appreciated that when this arrangement is mounted ina floor polishing machine and starts to rotate on the floor F that due to the friction generated between the surface S and the door F heat is generated which starts to fuse the waX, which tends to move radially outwardly due to the centrifugal effect and is evenly distributed in the floor F by the outer card-board cylinder 4, bearing in mind that at the same time as the disk mem ber 11 rotates, the floor polishing machine is moved along the iioor F.

The circular boss 17 which is usually present in the disk member 11 avoids bending of the metal base portion 2 and therefore likewise of the waxing member 1.

As has already been stated, it is advisable to supply the disk member 11 with at least one row of bristles 18 so that the floor F is cleaned and at the same time it is avoided within reasonable limits that the surface S is covered with a layer of dirt which would impede the melting of the wax.

In the embodiment described it is a necessary condition that the bristles 18 are sufficiently soft to be unable to self support the polishing machine, so that as the wax 7 and cylinders 4 and 6 are consumed, the wax is still able to enter in contact with the floor F. It may be added that in addition the bristles 18 carry out a certain polishing effect.

If it is desired to provide stronger bristles or several rows of bristles such as bristles 118 mounted on a disk like member 111 having pins 112 as shown in Fig. 4, lthen the waxing member 101 must be mounted on a helical spring 119 or the like secured to the disk member 111 and urging the waxing member 101 towards the floor. The metal base portion 102 has an outwardly projecting rim 102 which will enter in contact with a channelled stop ring 120 housing a felt, asbestos or the like distributor ring 121, so that said ring 121 carries out the role ofthe card-board cylinder 4 of the other embodiment, whilst the rim 102 will enter in contact with the lower face 120 before the wax 107 is completely worn off, whereby the metal base 102 will never be able to enter in contact with the door, which obviously should be avoided.

In this embodiment it will be appreciated that it is not necessary that the waxing member 101 and more particularly the wax 107 is encircled by a card-board cylinder, since the distribution of the wax on the oor is carried out by ring 121.

The alternative is of course also feasible, that is, that ring 120 merely operates as a stop for the metal base portion 102 and the wax 107 is encircled by an outer card-board cylinder as described in connection with the iirst embodiment.

If the waxing member is to be of very large cross section, such as eventually for industrial machines, then a waxing member 201 such as shown in Fig. 5 could be used, which in addition to the outerl card-board cylinder 204 and the inner card-board cylinder 206 comprises a plurality of intermediate concentric cylinders 222 of different diameter so that a plurality of annular waxing zones 207 are established, whereby each of the cylinders 222 behaves as the outer cylinder 204 with respect to the Waxing zone 207 it encircles. The metal base 211 is likewise provided with a perforation 210 for receiving a screw (not shown) or the like.

Whilst a metal base, such as metal base 2 is so far preferred, it is obvious that any other material could likewise be used.

Obviously, the disk member 1.1 and the base portion 2 could be a single member, whereby screw 14 and nut 15 or the like link becomes unnecessary.

I claim:

1. A waxing member for attachment to a rotary floor polishing machine having a power driven disk comprising,

a circular base portion having means for coupling it to said disk for rotation therewith, a cylindrical body of solid floor wax having one end mounted on said base portion for rotative movement with said base portion and the other end frictionally engageable with the floor, a distributor coupled with said base portion for rotational movement therewith, said distributor being abradable by rotative friction with the floor, said distributor being a container surrounding the side of said cylindrical body of solid floor wax and extending from said base portion to the floor engageable end of said body of wax.

2. A waxing member for attachment to a rotary iioor polishing machine having a power driven disk comprising, a circular base portion having means for coupling it to said disk for rotation therewith, a cylindrical body of solid .door wax having one end mounted on said base portion for rotative movement with said base portion and the other end frictionally engageable with the floor, a distributor coupled with said base portion for rotational movement therewith, said distributor being abradable by rotative friction with the floor, said distributor being a container surrounding the side of said cylindrical body of solid oor wax and extending from said base portion to the floor engageable end of said body of wax, an annular ring of bristles mounted on said base portion and spaced outward from said distributor, and said bristles being soft to splay outward under the weight of said machine and the centrifugal motion of said base portion.

3. A waxing member for attachment to a rotary floor polishing machine having a power driven disk comprising, a circular base portion having means for coupling it to said disk for rotation therewith, at least two concentrically nested cylindrical blocks of solid floor wax each having an end mounted on said base portion for rotative movement therewith, and the other end engageable with the door, concentric distributors coupled with said base portion for rotational movement therewith, one distributor adjacent the outer side of each of said blocks of wax and extending from said base portion to the oor engageable end of said body of wax, and all of said distributors being abradable by rotative friction with the door.

4. In a waxing member as claimed in claim 3, an annular ring of bristles mounted on said base portion and spaced outward from said distributor, and said bristles being soft to splay outward under the weight of said machine and the centrifugal motion of said base portion.

5. A waxing member for attachment to a rotary floor polishing machine having a power driven disk to be moved over a door surface comprising, a circular base portion, a body of solid floor wax having one end iixedly mounted' on said base portion and the other end free, an annular distributor disposed radially outwardly adjacent the free end of said body of solid oor wax, said distributor being mounted on said circular base portion for rotation therewith, said distributor being a dam to arrest the flow of globs of wax made molten by rotative friction of the wax with a oor surface, and said annular distributor having a surface disposed in the plane of said free end of said solid body of lloor wax to reduce said arrested globs of molten wax to a thin film as said disk is moved over the floor surface, an annular ring of bristles mounted ou said base portion and spaced outward from said distributor, and said bristles being soft to splay outward under the weight of said machine and the centrifugal motion of said base portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Howard Sept. 16', 1958 

